“Something of God…

flows into us from the

blue of the sky, the taste

of honey, the delicious

embrace of water

whether cold or hot,

and even from sleep

itself.” – CS Lewis

‘Scraps’, St. James’ Magazine

“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.”

- Og Mandino

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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
- Mark Twain

I just read a post called “Can Do” by Maira Kalman (by the way, it’s a very artistic and beautiful post from the NY Times) and another one by the Jollyblogger called “I Refuse to be Bored.” I thought it was worth posting some of the same ideas here. Here’s a quote about Benjamin Franklin from Kalman’s post:

I don’t think he was ever bored. He saw a dirty street and created a sanitation department. He saw a house on fire and created a fire department. He saw sick people and founded a hospital. He started our first lending library. He saw people needing an education and founded a university. He started the American Philosophical Society where men and women shared developments in science. And then, by the way, he helped create and run the country. He was a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

He was never bored??? What?? Is that possible?? I mean think about it – Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest minds in the world. Isn’t it smart people who get bored?? Aren’t they the ones who understand everything so easily that nothing really intrigues them??

A couple other quotes from the Jollyblogger post:

Boredom is a decision we make, not something [that] happens to us.

The experience of “boredom” says far more about the one claiming to be bored than about the speaker, the event or whatever the alleged cause of the boredom.

If boredom is a choice, we make why do we make that choice? I mean, in all honesty, I get bored pretty easily. I confess that I love to be entertained – to have something to do that engages my mind and body. (Maybe that’s why I like blogging so much.) Can I choose to not be bored? to learn and grow and engage my mind in everything? even in the mundane? Can I choose to do something about the things I think about? It sounds to me like that’s what Benjamin Franklin did. When he saw the dirty street, he didn’t stop with his thoughts, but they motivated him to do something. Action. . . yeah, that’s what keeps us from being bored – action.

As I kid I remember my mom saying, “If you’re bored, you’re boring.” I guess that reflects the Jollyblogger’s idea that boredom says more about the person bored than the speaker or event. Maybe that’s the real problem – I’m boring. Maybe this is a wakeup call – I need to get to work. Start acting on my thoughts and the things that intrigue me.

What action do you need to take today? Maybe it’s something small, but . . .well, if it moves you in the right direction, it’s a good step to take. Maybe a bunch of little steps in the right direction will not only keep us from being bored, but also guide us to an amazing future. And if you’re still bored taking the little step, then take a bigger one. Challenge yourself. Push yourself. Just keep moving forward.

A friend of mine, Michael Chapman is going through a tough time right now – watching his mother die. She’s been whispering to someone while she’s in a out of consciousness over the past few days. Mike wrote a blog describing it and shared this quote:

In his book, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, Frederick Buechner says this about prayer: “Everybody prays whether we think of it as praying or not. The odd silence you fall into when something very beautiful is happening or something very good or very bad. The ah-h-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of you as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the sky-rocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else’s pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else’s joy. Whatever words or sounds you use for sighing with over your own life. These are all prayers in their way.”

What a beautiful way to describe prayer. It reminds me of Romans 8:26, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” He knows our hearts and hears our prayers even when they’re not spoken, but the even better news is that He “groans” for us too!! I also love the imagery of the phrase in the quote saying the . . . . . “that floats up out of you.” Could that be the Spirit at work within us? I hope so.

Sometimes I close my posts with a prayer. Today, I’ll just say that something seems to be “floating up out of me” as I think about Mike’s mom, Jan. Maybe that’s the best prayer I can offer.

I read a blog by Alan Danielson this morning that brings home a concept that’s been rolling around in my head for a while.

Here’s a quote: “Often we think that a great harvest is when masses make a decision for Christ, but Osborne (in his book, Sticky Church) challenges that mindset. Farmers don’t celebrate and call it ‘harvest’ when seeds sprout tiny green buds for the first time. It’s not ‘harvest’ until the plants have grown to maturity and produce fruit.”

Yes!! That’s exactly how I’ve been feeling. The church has grown to be obsessed with hype and big events that engage people in first-time decisions. No, I’m not knocking first-time decisions. I’m just saying that all too often that’s also the end of our efforts. The farmer image captures it very well – the larger celebration should be at the end of the harvest and our efforts should be consistent throughout the growth process!

PS – If this one concept is this powerful, I need to read this book.

Anne Lamott is one of the best writers I think I’ve ever read – and funny too. Anyway, this morning I started listening to her audio book (she reads herself) called “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.”

Anyway, I just thought I’d share a few quotes that struck me:

Peace is joy at rest. Joy is peace on it’s feet.

One of the top five most annoying things about God is that He rarely answers right away. It can take days or even weeks. Can you talk about God like this?

Maybe it was the ‘Ham of God.‘

She describes how seasonal showers fill up potholes in the rocks in the desert and frogs live in them. Then she says, “it seems you can go from parched to overflow in the blink of an eye.”

Here’s another quote from a talk she gave to a bunch of Pastors: